How Fidget Spinner Was Supposed To Bring Peace To Mideast
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — Do we have Palestinian rock throwers to thank for the fidget spinner?
The inventor of the ubiquitous stress-reducing toy says she came up with the idea during a trip to Israel in the 1980s, during the First Intifada, as a way to distract the “young boys throwing rocks at police officers.”
Catherine Hettinger told CNN Money last week that she first brainstormed the gadget while visiting her sister in the Jewish state and hearing about the clashes between Palestinian youth and Israeli security.
She first considered designing a “soft rock that kids could throw,” according to CNN Money.
“It started as a way of promoting peace,” Hettinger said.
But soon after, upon returning home to Orlando, Florida, Hettinger put together the first fidget spinner — a propeller-like toy that spins around a center bearing.
Hettinger secured a patent for the device in 1997, but sales languished for over a decade, and Hasbro declined to market it. Hettinger did not have the money to pay the $400 fee to renew her patent in 2005.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
